Monday, October 14, 2013

Tales From the Front, Cold War Edition... the Other Side

Just one small item that would drive the current tree-hugging, hybrid-driving, left-wing, liberal academic, Über-Feminist, Paula absolutely nuts if it ever got out:

Well... it's out, innit? "My Master?" It is to laugh...

On another, yet related, subject... I'm somewhat reluctant to publish any of The Second Mrs. Pennington's letters to me while I was deployed or when we were otherwise separated, mainly because of the explicit language contained therein. We DO try to keep this blog at a PG level, or at least at the high-end of that rating. If I posted any of her stuff I'd really have to use the censor's pen liberally to maintain our PG rating. But, who knows? I might publish some of that stuff at some point in future. I really did love her explicit nature... it was one of the best things about The Girl. Srsly... a spade was always a spade, and NEVER a "pointed earth-moving implement." Ya gotta love that.

By the way, "Master Bedroom" and "Mademoiselle" are two words that are no longer used in the 21st century.

O, Christiane... NO. I saw an article about this abomination... or crime against the language... a short while ago and my very first reaction was "WTF?" This has GOT to be the ultimate politically correct, not-shit, pimple on the ass of civilization ever. If we no longer say "master bedroom," what's next? What happens to "master craftsmen?" What do we say when we describe ourselves as a "jack of all trades, master of none?" And what becomes of a ship's master? Will they play the "The Really Good Guys" tournament in Augusta next year, as opposed to The Masters? Nope. Sorry, but I'm NOT gonna go there. Not even. Not at all.

And... has anyone told the French that Mademoiselle is passé? I think not.

I think like many words, we say them not for how they originated, as in Master being the largest bedroom, not a place where the Master resides. Mademoiselle and demoiselle actually meant virgins, but in the 20th Century just meant unmarried, and not a negative thing either, as many business women used it. Barbara Stanwyck always called herself Miss, because it was used by businesswomen that way, no one suspected she was a virgin :-)

I still use Miss for young girls, because I think calling them anything else doesn't sound good. It's an endearing word, while Mizz (Ms) sounds too proletarian...

Here's a story from 2012 where the Nazi feminists achieved their victory over French government forms:

The niceties of the French language are monitored and debated by an august institution, the Académie Française, which typically operates on a time scale commensurate with its venerability and has yet to offer comment. Nor have all Frenchwomen rejoiced at news of the change, given not only long tradition but also widespread disdain for more avid strains of feminism, deemed to lack sufficient appreciation for the joys offered by the differences between the sexes.

I'm with the French in my disdain for the "more avid strains of feminism." That said, I've always been something of a feminist, in a manner much the same as those conservatives who call themselves "classical liberals." It's not hard to be a feminist, all one has to do is respect the other person and treat them in the same manner as you want to be treated. Easily done, that.

So one would think and one would be quite wrong to hear a feminist or modern women tell us all because God help you if you refer to one as maam because the object of your politesse will lash out like a rattler at suppertime.

@ Curtis: In re: ma'am. Not so much in this part o' the world, where the cowboy/John Wayne types are still admired, respected, and emulated. I use and hear "ma'am" every day. But I DO hear ya... When I lived in SFO and other big-ass cities I couldn't even BEGIN to count the number o' times some shrew snarled "I can get it MYSELF!" at me when I went to hold a door for her.

Nothing better than a woman who isn't afraid to let it all hang out, and who doesn't hedge her bets. None of that "I feel you may be saying such-and-such because...", but rather a "Here's what I want. Are you able to provide me with it?" Men like straightforward game plans.